Day: November 17, 2011

So, one wild-card team per league isn’t enough for Bud Selig. Can this guy retire already? Go teach your classes. I’m sure they’ll be thrilling. How to ruin the All-Star and then Monumentally Over-Value it the Next Season 104, How to Sell Franchises to Broke People 230, Holding your Hand to Your Ear 421 (Seminar). You get the idea. Bud really wants to leave his mark on the game and that mark is going to be 15-team per league Inter-league cluster bang and 10 of 30 teams making the playoffs. But…those 162 games count. OK.

What’s the problem with 1 more wild-card? It puts a premium on winning the division, but it also seems to add an even more arbitrary nature to the post-season. If they’re adding games, why not just make the first round a best of seven? If you look at this year, you would have been robbed the two big collapse stories. Not that you want to dwell on the negative, but Boston and Atlanta still would have been in this year under the new rules. Do they deserve to be rewarded for those finishes? In 2009, you would have had Boston again (a 3rd place team in their own division) playing the Yankees (who beat them by 5.5 games over the 162-game season). Is that fair if Boston wins that game? In 2008, you have the same AL East scenario flipped. In 2007, 2 teams would have tied for the NL’s 2nd spot (so there’s another game to wedge in), in 2006 you’d have the 83-win Phillies in the post-season. You get my point? Dilution. This year we were whining about how the races were over in August and then you ended up with the best last day ever.

And, the 15/15 team leagues seems to be the first step in making the DH universal. This is MY OWN PERSONAL NIGHTMARE. I don’t know if it’ll change the amount of inter-league games, but they’ll be a constant and you’d have to think that NL teams would have to start making roster adjustments. If that’s the case, is it even fair to have the two different sets of rules?

Anyway, I think baseball is missing the boat. Exclusivity is what they had going for it to a certain extent, and now the opening portion of the playoffs will feel like the NCAA tournament. Just for reference, the Astros move in 2013 and the playoffs may not change until then either.

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Speaking of missing the boat, I’m not sure why the Phillies seem intent on running the exact same team out there after they promised some type of change. I’m speaking especially in terms of the bench as it looks like Brian Schneider is going to be back. Schneider does that “handling the staff” thing well, but at this point in his career is a liability at the plate. You throw him on a bench with Valdez/Martinez and suddenly you’ve got 3 guys who can’t really hit. The Phils laud their defense and then complain about production. It doesn’t make any sense. And, the way Amaro is talking this week, you’ve just got to hope he’s lying. He’s talking about everyone coming back, both middle infielders and Benny San Fran. Well, there’s your bench. Where’s the turnover coming from?

You’ve got to have some morbid curiosity about tonight’s NFL game, right? On paper, there’s not much glamour. The Jets are a team that only a mother could love. The Broncos run an offense straight out of the leather helmet era. Their own coach kinda, sorta said that their QB can’t really play in the league, but they’re trotting him out there anyway and have won two straight. The Jets seem embarrassed to be preparing for this offense. As if it is an insult to their skill level, and we’ll see if that’s the case. How sustainable is what Denver is doing? I feel like the expiration date is about 8:30 tonight.

I do appreciate the fact that Denver is being brutally honest about this. Look, we know. We see it in practice, we’re not going to try to dress it up. We’ll be running the ball 55 times. Come get some. It puts a lot of heat on their defense and possibly bores the other team to death. How else do you explain Eric Decker getting open exactly once a game? Then Tebow heaves up that gork, that dying quail, and we’ve got absolute pandemonium in the Mile High City. And, while I think it is incredibly stupid, just a terrible, terrible long-term move–I do appreciate that Denver has not given up on the season. In fact, it looks like Indy is really the only team that truly packed it in. The Broncos are showing up to the prom with their cousin because everyone else said “ehh-no thank ya,” but at least they’re showing up.

Does anyone think that Tebow could actually have a stranger game than last week? Two completions in a win is something that isn’t done too often, but we of course know that D.A. once did it in much more spectacular fashion. Is one completion possible? Is zero? It looked for a moment last weekend like Tebow may not complete a pass. If the Jets really pack it in against the run, how many yards will the Broncos gain? 85? How many first downs will they get? If the Broncos get down 2 or 3 scores will they air it out? Or, will they just run the ball to kill clock and get it over with? Could Tebow do something amazing like 6/27 for 55 yards? What’s the basement? Is this the biggest advantage Mark Sanchez has ever had over the opposing QB?

Speaking of the QBs, I’m supposed to remind D.A. Football participants about the Thursday draft. I imagine Tebow has to go somewhere.

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Contraction Special: Jaguars @ Browns.

You know, I just spent multiple paragraphs talking about Tebow, but here’s two teams that will trying to run actual offenses and they just don’t have the players. How many NFL games are played where there is a total of 1 viable fantasy option on the field (aside from defenses)? Does anyone own a Brown? I know there were some sorry souls who played Colt McCoy this year, but the Browns could probably learn something by watching Denver’s offensive game tape. They’re horrific. The Jaguars aren’t much better. I don’t want to write off Blaine Gabbert. It’s too early, his receivers are mostly garbage, but don’t you wish he could be sent off somewhere to develop and you didn’t have to witness it play out like a horror show every week. Just show me the “after” picture. I can’t take the gore. This game is brutal. I’d rather watch golf on replay.

The AFC Special: Bengals @ Ravens.

It could be tonight’s game, honestly. The Broncos are only 1 game out in their division and the Jets still have designs on a playoff spot, and yet most people would rather watch Peyton Manning play coach mode in Madden. I already talked too much about that game though, so we’ll just hitch right back up to the Bengals wagon. Now, I’ll admit–the game last week was not as bad as I was expecting. But, that was just the tip of the iceberg for the Bengals. They lost, as expected, and now they’ll continue to lose. Like I said last week, this isn’t a 6-2 team, it isn’t a 6-3 team. It’s a team that on its way to 8-8. And, I am glad I picked this game, because I have no idea what the Ravens are doing. They’re the only team that would have Ray Rice, but not really want to give him the ball. Let’s feature Ed Dickson!

Game of the Week: Tampa Bay @ Green Bay.

Somewhere Chris Berman is saying, “NFC Norris, Bay of Pigs, NFC Norris,” through a mouthful of Wendys, but this is the game I came up with on what is once again a horrific slate of action. There are some opportunities to rubberneck an accident. How bad will Philly be? But, I’m picking this game solely because of Green Bay. If all 14 games are going to be atrocious, why not pick the game that has the best team? It’s entertaining to watch the Packers play offense. You can’t really deny that, and they should be rolling it up once again. They’ve probably got that first taste of 16-0 now, and it certainly won’t be stopped by the aimless Bucs. I suggest finding someone who is playing against Jordy Nelson in fantasy. Watch the game with them. You’ll get your laughs.